Posted: Thursday, 11 June 2015
It is now officially here. From 8 June, the paper counterpart to the UK driving licence has been abolished in favour of a computer database used to keep track of driver violations and penalties. With at least one organisation warning drivers to not throw away their paper counterparts just yet, we cannot help but wonder if the warning also applies to those who drive vocationally.
Vocational drivers are those whose employment is exclusively devoted to driving or for whom driving is an extensive part of their daily work. The AA is saying that non-vocational drivers should hold on to their paper counterparts if they plan to hire a car during this year's holiday season; we recommend vocational drivers keep their paper counterparts if their job takes them outside of the UK during the summer months.
In theory, car hire firms and European police agencies alike could immediately look up a driver's information online as long as they had a customer code supplied to them by the driver in question. However, this is theory only. The practical application is considerably different.
Drivers can request codes should they anticipate the need to have one. However, such codes are only temporary. Once they expire, the driver would have to acquire a new code for later use. Making matters worse is the fact that some car hire companies and European police agencies may be completely unaware of the new driving licence in the UK. As the Daily Mail explains, it could take the better part of this summer for all of Europe to catch up with the system. That is not even counting various businesses and organisations within the UK that will need to adapt.
According to the Daily Mail, the "concern in the motoring industry centres on the possibility that both drivers and the firms they use will be surprised by the change." Nonetheless, we believe that concern extends to companies with drivers on the payroll. Yes, fleet managers and HR personnel could access individual driver information using a code supplied by that driver. Nevertheless, since a code is only good for 72 hours, an employer would have to get a new code every time a driving licence was to be checked. There has to be a better way.
There is a better way to check the driving licences of your employees when you contract with Fleet Licence Check. In addition to claims handling service, we also offer licence-checking services utilising the same DVLA database you would use to check yourself. The difference is that you do not need to obtain a code from your drivers. You simply give us the information you already have on hand and we perform the necessary check. Results are delivered directly to you.
Do not let the abolishment of the paper counterpart throw you off. Instead, let Fleet Licence Check help you by running regular licence checks on your behalf.
Source: Daily Mail